Fifty Bucks: Nothing to Sneeze At

Well dear readers, I took the day off from blogging yesterday. Instead of writing my blog for you, for free...I went and interviewed the principal of a local middle school. My son's middle school to be exact! She was very interesting and after I whip up a nice feature article, the local paper has promised to pay me fifty dollars. That my friends, is nothing to sneeze at. That will be some nice money to add to our month's grocery food fund.

I used to be a real journalist back in the good old days. Okay, not that* long ago. I was a daily reporter for the Arlington Journal in the late 90s. I covered courts, cops, and education. Prior to that, I was a magazine writer for a non-profit magazine and in college I worked for Gannet News Service as political reporter. So, now after years of working as a technical writer, I am figuring out if I still remember how to get not only the meat at the grocery store--but the meat of a nice, juicy story. I will let you know Monday after I finish sinking my teeth into this Principal piece.

Speaking of sinking my teeth into things, I had lunch out today. Guess how much I spent? Well, I will give you a few clues. I only brought $5 dollars and some change with me to Chick-fil-A, and I came home with four bucks. But I ate hearty.

Now, please stop groaning. I know you all think I eat there too much. But can you blame me? Come on people. The coffee--it is free! And the staff there, they come to your table and re-fill it and bring you little mints too. But I digress.

The cost. First let me tell you what I ate. I ate a chicken sandwich, an order of waffle fries and a coffee. I brought my free Wal-mart water (I will tell you about that later). The cost? $1.55!

How did I do it?

Saving my receipts. Each time you go to Chick-fil-A they give you a receipt. Save the receipt! At the bottom, and at the bottom of a lot of receipts at fast food restaurants, there is a number and web site that you can go to and do a survey. It takes about 10 minutes or less to do the survey. If you do it, you get a code to write down. The code is good for 1 free sandwich, no purchase necessary. So, I used my receipt and code for 1 free sandwich, got my free coffee, brought my own spring water, and bought 1 order of fries for $1.55. And what did I do with my new receipt? I saved it of course! For my next lunch with my friend Pam at Chick-fil-A. Times are tough, dear readers.

Speaking of tough times, I was thrilled at Wal-mart yesterday. I was there after my interview with the principal. My husband had to pick something up, so the "babies" and me went along for fun. Well, it is a darn good thing we did. They were kicking off the grilling season by grilling hot dogs and giving them away! We had free hot dogs, free bottled water, and free cake. The "babies" went wild when they saw the cake. Keep your eye out for give-aways like that and for openings of new stores. There is a Maggie Moos opening up at the end of March in the Harris Teeter plaza on Rt. 29 in Gainesville and I am hoping they will have giveaways. There is also a Dunkin Donuts opening up in the Wegmens plaza; I will keep you posted. We went to an opening of a 7-11 once a few months back and walked away with free sandwiches and brownies to last us a whole weekend.

Until we meet again. My recessionary tale will continue again tomorrow.